Charity watchdog loses its bite

Britain's official charity watchdog has been accused of "weakness"
in the face of terrorism after new figures showed it had launched more
scrutinies into private schools and other institutions than into charities
allegedly funding terror.

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Muslim Aid has refused to deny channelling funds to the Islamic Society of Gaza, which ran a 'terrorist kindergarten' and posted footage of its preschool children on YouTube

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Preschool children parade waving model Kalashnikov rifles

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The 'kindergarten' is part of Hamas's extensive educational and social service network through which it retains control over the population of Gaza

The Charity Commission last week cleared Muslim Aid, a British charity, of all involvement in terrorism, even though the charity has itself admitted funding two organisations linked to the banned terror groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Muslim Aid has also refused to deny channelling funds to another Hamas-linked group, the Islamic Society of Gaza, which operated a "terrorist kindergarten" where preschool children paraded waving model Kalashnikov rifles.

YouTube footage of the event shows the boys, aged about four to five, dressed in camouflage fatigues and draped with mock suicide-bomber explosives. The "kindergarten" is part of Hamas's extensive educational and social service network through which it retains control over the population of Gaza.

Tories have expressed growing concern about what they say is the "political bias" of the Charity Commission under Dame Suzi Leather, an active member of the Labour Party.

Dame Suzi has targeted much of the Commission's regulatory focus on independent schools, asking them to justify the "public benefit" of their valuable charity status. One Tory peer, Lord Pilkington, said the Commission had shown "prejudice and partisanship" on the issue.

Last year, the Commission launched 12 "public benefit" scrutinies into private schools, care homes and other such bodies. It launched 11 enquiries into charities allegedly linked to terrorism. So far, only two small independent schools have been forced to change their policies.

One has raised the number of bursaries it offers from two to three. The other has raised the number of bursaries from nil to three.

Muslim Aid is the third British-based charity to be cleared by the Commission of involvement in terrorism in the past two years, even though two are banned for their alleged terrorist links in other countries. The Charity Commission has only published reports on three of the 11 cases.

Muslim Aid has admitted funding Al-Ihsan, a charity closely linked to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Islamic University of Gaza. It has repeatedly refused to deny allegations that it funded the Islamic Society and five other bodies linked to Hamas.

In its report into Muslim Aid, which is banned in Israel for its alleged Hamas links, the Commission admitted it had not even investigated the majority of the allegations made against the charity before ruling them all "unsubstantiated". A Commission spokesman declined to say how it had reached this conclusion or what investigations it had done.

The Commission has also cleared Interpal, a British charity banned in the US, Canada, Israel and Australia for its alleged links to Hamas.

It admitted it had received extensive material which "seemed to indicate certain local partners funded by [Interpal] promoted terrorist ideology or activities" but said this evidence was "insufficient".

However, the Commission's own declared counter-terrorism policy states that "any links" between a British charity and terrorism, whether "formal or informal" are "completely unacceptable" and must be treated as a "zero tolerance" issue. Interpal denies any link with Hamas or terrorism.

The Commission also this year cleared a fourth British charity, the Islamic Shakhsiyah Foundation, which is not linked to terrorism but is run by at least one supporter of the racist, extremist Muslim sect, Hizb ut Tahrir. The foundation was paid more than £100,000 of public money to run schools teaching key elements of Hizb ideology to children as young as five.

Farah Ahmed, one of the foundation's trustees who is also headmistress of its Slough school, wrote a chapter in a Hizb ut Tahrir pamphlet attacking the National Curriculum for its "systematic indoctrination" of Muslim children "to build model British citizens". She criticised "attempts to integrate Muslim children" into British society as an effort "to produce new generations that reject Islam" and said English was "one of the most damaging subjects" a school can teach. The schools' curriculum closely reflects elements of Hizb ut Tahrir ideology. However, the Charity Commission said there was no evidence that Hizb ut Tahrir ideology was taught at the schools.

It ruled there were no concerns over the public funding, saying that since Yusra Hamilton, the main Hizb trustee, had resigned, it was "not necessary for the Commission to examine further the impact of her being a trustee".

However, Mrs Hamilton only resigned after being exposed in this newspaper, and was a trustee of the schools at the time the public money was paid. She continues to work with children as a volunteer at the Haringey school.

Hannah Stuart, of the Centre for Social Cohesion, which investigated Hizb ut Tahrir, said: "The Charity Commission has whitewashed these schools in an intellectually dishonest fashion. You can see they knew exactly what went on, yet bent over backwards to cover their own backs."

A senior Charity Commission official, employed by the Commission until this August, is himself the former secretary of a charity that supports Islamic hardliners.

Ghulam Rasool, the Commission's former head of faith and social cohesion, was previously secretary of another British Muslim charity, Islamic Help, whose Baghdad office is inside the Abu Hanifa mosque, until recently a major centre of the Sunni insurgency. Munir al-Obaidi, Islamic Help's "chief coordinator" in Iraq, has condemned the taking of civilian hostages, but said that those who kidnap US soldiers or those helping them "may have a point".

In Gaza, Islamic Help also works closely with the Islamic Society, the Hamas front that operated the "terrorist kindergarten". The charity has sponsored events in Britain at which extremist speakers, including Taji Mustafa, Hizb ut Tahrir's spokesman, appeared. Islamic Help did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr Rasool admitted to The Sunday Telegraph that during his time as secretary of Islamic Help there was "some kind of issue in Iraq" and a controversy about the charity's operations in Kashmir that had led to "queries" by the Charity Commission. "I was led to believe that a person in Iraq was removed," he said. "The Commission looked into it and felt we had responded to their enquiries in a satisfactory manner."

However, Mr Rasool insisted that Islamic Help during his time worked only with legitimate and official partners. He said he was a moderate and totally opposed to terrorism, adding: "I am somebody who has been opposing this phenomenon which has been labelled as Islamist. I am well known as somebody who has never supported that."

He said that while working at the Charity Commission he had had no "formal involvement" with any of its terrorism or extremism investigations: "They would sometimes ask me questions and I would reply. But my work was outreach, not investigation."

A Commission spokesman said Mr Rasool's unit "provided, where appropriate, a resource about faith-based charities" but was "not part of the compliance division". Mr Rasool left because funding for his unit was ended. The Commission declined to answer how many staff it had working on counter-terrorism, or what proportion of its budget was spent in the area.

Kate Hoey, the Labour MP for Vauxhall, said: "In my dealings with the Charity Commission, often over matters of serious concern, I have found their performance weak. The UK faces one of the West's most serious terrorist threats. I hope the Charity Commission does not see private schools and the like as a greater investigative priority than terrorism."